"Gee~ as I kept getting it, befo~re I knew it, I was alrea~dy in the thro~n~e room~"
When we reached the end of the passage, our destination was right in front of us.
A massive circular metal door made of heavy adamantite.
In other words, an underground vault.
Or rather, the place where more than ninety percent of the wealth of this Eldorado slept.
I'd only heard about it before; this was my first time seeing it with my own eyes.
The owner who had fled ahead of us was surely inside.
If things went wrong, this was the safest place in the area, after all.
Well then. Knock, knock, knock.
"Owner, I've brought your delivery. Please open the door."
Or should we make a snowman together?
Of course, there was no cold snow here, and no beautiful young lady to make one with, either.
Just kidding.
"M-Magus?! W-What about the Gale? What happened to Ryuu Lion?!"
"She is the delivery, of course. It's safe now, so please open the door."
"J-Just wait a moment! It's not certain yet...!"
Heh. This old man was really something.
Maybe being cornered unexpectedly had become some kind of trauma.
The owner kept hesitating for a long while after that and still wouldn't open the door.
That was a real problem for me.
I was busy enough as it was, and I had to finish this before the Ganesha Familia bunch arrived after hearing the commotion.
In that sense, excuse me for a moment.
"Hmm, hm, mm?"
Let's see... Oh, this adamantite door is a cheap knockoff mixed from upper- and middle-floor materials rather than a top-grade deep-floor product.
Did he get scammed somewhere shady?
Either way, for me this is just—rree~ally easy!
At this point, the answer was practically already decided.
The door's hardness was weak enough, but its mana resistance, or rather its vulnerability to magic, was also pretty poor.
Well, that was only true for veterans of Level 4 and above, of course.
My romance power is beyond that!
"[Door Door.]"
So I lightly invaded the vault door with a formula, passing through corruption, mutation, and fixation to create and open another door.
In this case, it might have been closer to alchemy than Magecraft.
Anyway... open sesame!
Click!
"J-Johnny...! N-No, the Magus has arrived!"
"H-Huh?! Wh-What the hell?! How did you get in!? And what is that door?!"
When I stepped into the vault, I found the owner staring at me in utter shock, completely flustered.
If I'd handled this wrong, this old man might have actually gone into cardiac arrest.
Well, if I'd torn the door itself off or smashed my way in, that would've been one thing.
It's hard to imagine someone breaking in like this.
In that sense, let me close the door I opened and apologize in advance.
I'm a polite(?) model citizen, after all.
...No, why? I'm right.
You know, in some movie, a fine model citizen was blowing things to pieces just fine.
And one famous film director is practically renowned for that sort of thing.
Compared to that, I'm downright respectable.
Probably.
"I'm sorry. But since you wouldn't open the door, I had no choice."
"W-Well, there was no need to! If the Ganesha Familia had arrived while I held out here, then everything would've been over anyway, so why would I—"
Oops. Maybe because he was too flustered.
He was blurting things out without thinking.
And once words like that are out, they can't just be taken back so easily.
I trust the owner knows that too.
That's just common sense, after all.
It's not because I'm a petty little bastard or anything.
"Hahaha, don't worry. Here. The delivery you've been waiting for. I've made sure she's fully subdued, so from here on out, do as you please."
"Y-You mean it? You really defeated the Gale, boy?!"
I carefully lowered Ryuu, whom I'd been carrying on my shoulder, to the floor and handed her over to the owner.
Well, I didn't exactly lie, did I?
The subject I was referring to was just a liiittle ambiguous.
I sincerely believe everyone will understand that level of misunderstanding, as this Magus does.
Whether he knew my inner thoughts or not, the owner looked down at her, collapsed and unconscious, for a moment before bursting into loud laughter and savoring the joy of victory.
Only then could he finally feel relieved.
The relief he had longed for ever since that day in the past, after his downfall at the hands of the Astrea Familia.
"Kehehe, never thought a day like this would come."
How does it feel, Ryuu?
The owner let out a vile grin and roughly grabbed Ryuu by the hair, forcing her half upright.
But there was no reaction from her, unconscious as she was.
That only made the owner even more arrogant.
"Until just a moment ago, I thought today was a complete disaster. But I've changed my mind. Today is truly the best day ever!"
After that, the owner launched into a long speech.
Stupid bitch, filthy wench who doesn't know her place, I'll never let you die easily, you're not even fit to be feed for livestock, I'll torment you until you're begging me to kill you, I'll capture that companion of yours too and, together with the Anna who was originally mine, make her as miserable as possible and enjoy it, and so on.
Having fully recognized his victory, the owner openly voiced the filthy, disgusting desires he'd been keeping inside him.
But from the sound of it... hmm, he's surprisingly a pretty wholesome type.
I've got to look at you again, owner.
I'd been expecting something much more slimy, filthy, and creepy.
No, maybe my sex education from my previous life was just too tragic.
Honestly, human potential... or rather, this innocent little Magus knows nothing, nya!
"Yes. She's not really my type, but you were quite the beauty yourself."
"Let's take our time and enjoy this."
Just as the owner, drunk on victory and ignoring my gaze, reached out without hesitation toward Ryuu's intimate area.
Pow!
"Keh, hup!?"
His plump chin flesh caved in mercilessly, and his body was sent floating high into the air.
The culprit was, of course, the one who had been unconscious until a moment ago... no.
Ryuu, who had been pretending to be unconscious.
"W-What?! M-Magus! W-What the hell is going on?!"
"Foolish. You still don't understand?"
"You were deceived by that man, Ted."
Ryuu stood, brushing off her body with a clean, almost fastidious motion, as if to shake off the filth of the owner's disgusting desires before they could stain her.
At her explanation, the owner's gaze hurriedly turned to the Magus.
No, why? Why in the world?
"M-Magus! Why...?!"
"I've said it several times already, but because my salary hasn't changed since three years ago?"
"What nonsense are you spouting! What salary are you getting from me?!"
Ugh, this potbellied old man has no sense of humor and won't even play along.
Well, I suppose that's only natural for someone who hasn't seen those masterpiece series.
Still, there was a reason I was doing this, so it didn't really matter.
"To be honest, I don't have any personal grudge."
There's just one thing I have to do.
With that, I told the owner my true purpose.
"The 'gold' you borrowed from me. I still haven't gotten it back."
"G-Gold? What the hell are you talking abo—huh?!"
"Ah, good. It seems you remember it clearly too, owner."
As human beings, the owner and I were completely incompatible, and yet as lender and seller, we'd maintained a fairly decent relationship in our own way.
And the beginning of that relationship was a certain Magecraft item I had once made as an experiment after much thought and tinkering.
"Yes, exactly. The 'Lucky Gold.' My goal is to reclaim it."
"N-No. I already returned that properly back then..."
"Owner. No, Mr. Ted."
Maybe because you're too flustered, you've forgotten.
"Lies don't work on me, you know?"
"Ah."
Holding my aching jaw, I smiled down at the lump of flesh soaked in cold sweat and said kindly to him.
And behind my back.
[NO! NO! NO!]
The pale spirit body of my familiar, Mr. Darby, was shouting the truth to me in a voice so loud it made the soul tremble.
Yes.
The real reason I brought this guy here today was exactly this.
"Let's see... Mr. Ted, are you currently carrying the 'gold' I'm looking for on your person?"
[NO! NO! NO!]
"Then is it in the vault of this casino?"
[YES! YES! YES!]
"Which vault? Your office?"
[NO! NO! NO!]
"Then the chip storage room for business use?"
[NO! NO! NO!]
"Don't tell me... right here?"
[YES! YES! YES!]
"Right here, then. So where in this secret vault did you put it? Over there, maybe?"
[NO! NO! NO!]
"Or over there?"
[YES! YES! YES!]
"Over there, then. But unlike that cheap one over there, this is a proper deep-floor model. It won't be easy to open it recklessly like before. Would you perhaps be willing to tell me the password?"
[NO! NO! NO!]
"I see. No choice, then. I'll figure it out myself. Let's see, shall we start with your birthday?"
"N-No. P-Please stop..."
After that, I kept throwing a few more questions at him and worked my way toward the answer I wanted.
Before long, with a soft click, the inner vault door opened.
And inside it, I was able to confirm the item I'd been looking for.
A treasure of gold, shrouded in a strange, dull-yellow radiance.
"Hmm. Hm, hm... yes. Unlike the fake gold trinket you handed me before, this is the 'gold' I was looking for."
"A-Ah..."
"There were plenty of problems along the way, but this completes the contract safely. Well, I don't have even the tiniest shred of personal grudge, so please keep using our shop's products in the future. We look forward to your next visit with great joy, valued customer."
"Y-You... Magusss..."
At my mockery disguised as kindness, Ted ground his teeth so hard it sounded like they might shatter.
But soon, as if giving up on everything, he slumped down and bowed his head low.
"...Give it back."
No.
He was only pretending.
"Give that back."
There was no way a man like him, the very embodiment of desire, would give up over something like that.
I believed that sincerely.
Well, to be precise, I trusted the performance of the treasure I'd made more than Ted's inability to give up.
"That... that's my 'gold'!"
Then Ted sprang back up at once and rushed toward the Magus.
Before I knew it, a small dagger was clenched in his hand.
The thing, radiating ominous energy, was a familiar object to me as well.
Yes, there was no need to hide it.
I made that too and sold it to him.
To put it roughly, it was a failed, downgraded version of [Purity Blade].
I wasn't particularly worried.
Because...
Pow!
"Kheh!"
"What are you so proud of, acting so recklessly?"
Ryuu, who had been standing by right beside him all this time, was never going to just sit there and watch.
Hey, hey. I knew I could count on you, damn it!
"A cursed magic blade, huh. How pointless."
"Try to understand. Right now, he's in a state where proper thinking is impossible."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Ah, well..."
At Ryuu's question, I started to answer, then turned my head back.
Several sets of footsteps could be heard outside the closed vault.
Their pace was even and steady, the footsteps of people who had been properly trained.
Which meant they were surely members of the Ganesha Familia, responsible for security in this casino.
"They've finally arrived. Then let's get off work already."
[Door Door.]
Since the Ganesha Familia had occupied the passage leading to the vault door, I touched various spots on the vault wall in the other direction, searching for an escape route.
Before long, I found a point connected to another passage, created a door there, and opened it.
Just as Ryuu and I were about to escape the vault through it,
"D-Don't think this is over!"
From behind us, Ted, his face twisted into a mess, had come to his senses again and was shouting something loudly.
The content was basically the standard defeat flag of a third-rate villain—something like a "you'll regret this next time" speech?
There was no need to politely listen to such a painfully obvious line.
But since it might be troublesome to clean up later, I decided to do a little something here.
"You're the same! Magus, you damned bastard! How dare you trick me! I'll never let the two of you get away with this...!"
"[Mr. Darby]."
Carry out the law of the contract.
I am the creditor, the Magus.
The debtor is the owner, Ted.
Prosecutor: absent. Defense attorney: absent.
The judge is you. The jury is the world.
"[Then what is the verdict?]"
Jury, unanimous.
Debtor, defeated.
Creditor, victorious.
The enforcer is you.
Therefore, this verdict is unquestionably lawful.
Here stands solemn justice.
"[Pull it out at once.]"
Wriggle, wriggle!
No sooner had my declaration ended than Mr. Darby suddenly appeared behind Ted like a ghost, without a sound.
Then it stretched out its frog-like hand and slapped onto the target's body.
After that, well, everyone knows what happened.
"H-Huh! Wh-What is this?! S-Save me...!"
Sluuurp!
Just like that, Mr. Darby forcibly ripped out Ted's soul, who had broken the contract, and unlike with Anna before, it brought the extracted thing to its own mouth.
Then, just like that.
Crunch!
At that miserable sight, Ryuu's expression twisted instantly.
Well, I suppose that's a natural reaction if you're seeing something like that for the first time.
"Ghk! Magus, what exactly is that?"
"Well, as you can see. I can control it somehow, so I keep it as a familiar. In truth, it's a pretty dangerous outer sea beast."
Its raw power is weak, of course.
But in terms of actual danger, that thing is far more dangerous than the monsters in the deep floors of the Dungeon.
Under certain conditions, nothing can resist its authority.
You could compare it to a lower divine rank, more or less.
[Grrr...]
"Magus, it seems that thing is glaring at you pretty intensely."
"Hmm, maybe because of that game earlier. Even though I forced the board over at the very end, I still did lose, after all. Contractually speaking, I'm still within that thing's range right now. Well, there are also plenty of other reasons it might want to eat me from before."
"Why are you explaining that so calmly?! That still means it's dangerous!"
"Oh, you're worried about me? Magus, I'm deeply moved."
"No, that's not what I—It's coming!"
[Kyaaaaaaa!]
Before long, after tasting blood... no, the taste of a soul, Mr. Darby flew into a frenzy and charged at me with a wild shriek like a rabid dog.
But I was still calm.
The range of its ability was limited to the presence or absence of a contract.
Ryuu was standing beside me, but she was absolutely not within that range.
So the only one in danger right now was me.
That was why I could stay calm.
No, rather, because it was targeting only me, I felt even safer.
There was no problem at all.
Because...
"Good grief."
If the target is clear, that just means it's insanely easy to counter.
So, as always, I subdued it the same way I used to.
That's why I've drawn [Purity Blade] prototype Replica No. 10 now.
This thing is, after all, a knockoff modeled after a zanpakutō, so it can even cut spirits.
Besides, I didn't need to cut that much, that deeply, or that cleanly.
Just a little sting enough to trigger [Purity Blade]'s power would do.
That alone was more than enough to subdue this damned thing.
By the way, what kind of place was that "outer world" where I happened to find this thing?
It wasn't really a land of crawling octopuses, mother-figures, and hounds with sanity values in the red, was it?
I sincerely hope not, damn it.
Though come to think of it, during my search I may have seen a one-horned girl who looked suspiciously like Rabi-chan?
No, maybe that was just my imagination too.
Anyway.
"Hahaha, you little bastard who doesn't even recognize his own master."
Stab!
[Kii, kyaaaaaaak!]
"Quiet now."
Stab!
[Kaaak, kaaah...]
My familiar was paralyzed all over by a vicious curse that seeped even into its soul, and it was subdued in an instant, almost absurdly easily.
It instantly killed off the fierce energy it had shown a moment ago and looked at me with the most pitiful expression it could manage.
Even so, to my aesthetic sense, it was all the same.
"What are you staring at? Whether I forgive you or not, why don't you just use your ability to peek into my heart and figure it out?"
[NO! NO! NO!]
"That's right, you got it perfectly. Then let me ask you this. What kind of punishment would be good for a dog that dared to bite its master? Should I just keep punching your face?"
[NO! NO! NO!]
"Then burning you alive with Magecraft?"
[NO! NO! NO!]
"Then... Ora Ora?"
At my question, Mr. Darby tilted its head slightly, as if it didn't understand the meaning.
But its ability was already answering for it.
[YES! YES! YES!]
"No, an Ora rush is still impossible. I can't get the speed. So instead..."
How about a Quiet-Please punishment?
Once again, the familiar tilted its head, not understanding what I meant.
Instead of answering, I drew another sword from the Imaginary Numbers space, gave it a light swing, and muttered softly.
This was...
"[Ring out, heavenly punishment.]"
Quiet-please! All of you!
Boom!
At the same time, a huge something of faint spiritual form, like a giant's fist, appeared above the creature's head, crashed down, and vanished, knocking Mr. Darby flat.
Our Mr. Darby sprawled out like a crushed frog.
"I win! Casino arc, over!"
"...What exactly are you doing?"
Ryuu, who had witnessed the whole thing from behind me, could only let out a sigh.
As if to say, Here comes another incomprehensible thing.